Early racquets, whether for playing tennis, racquetball, squash, badminton, etc. were of a similar design. Accordingly, there was little need for versatility in stringing machines to meet the limited differences among the racquets. With the introduction of racquets having significantly different designs such as enlarged heads, throatless racquets, racquets of all shapes and sizes and racquets with various throat designs, it was desirable to have stringing machines that were versatile and able to accommodate a wide variety of racquets. The stringing machine disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,441,275, the string clamp of U.S. Pat. No. 4,874,170, and the improved racquet retaining standard of U.S. Pat. No. 4,546,977 are representative of stringing machines and improvements that were developed to meet the stringing requirements demanded by the new racquets. Now, the present invention presents additional improvements in stringing machines resulting in improved stringing accuracy, consistency and speed.
The improvements in the stringing machine of the present invention, including improved adjustments for the tip riser and throat riser assemblies, a machined groove in the work table to allow proper adjustment of the string clamp, work table height adjustment using a foot activated gas spring, an improved string clamp, and other aspects are nowhere disclosed in the prior art.